RESEARCH QUESTION: What is the relationship between the hip hop pop-culture phenomenon and indigenous activism?
The adoption by indigenous groups of “western” technologies or cultural representations, such as: films, social media, sports or music, has produced a feeling of loss in those who believe in the essentialist notions of static cultures. We have been told about the harm that this new condition, which we could call “popular culture” intromission, could cause to the traditional ways of living of vulnerable communities, such as the indigenous groups. But what if we could understand this relationship the other way around, not as a western cultural imposition but as an appropriation of external forms of expression, to create new forms of representation that challenge the traditional modes of understanding indigeneity. This is my purpose in this essay, through the analysis of the Embera Chami hip hop group Linaje Originarios (Originary Linaje).
The Embera Chami are an indigenous community that live in the Andean mountains of Colombia and are dispersed in several groups along the west of the country in “resguardos” (land owned by a indigenous community). Most of these communities live near the main cities or in their surroundings, due to displacement or migration. In the “resguardo” Marcelino Tascón, located in the southwest of Colombia’s Department of Antioquia, live two Embera Chami cousins: Brayan and Dairon. They are the lead singers of a hip-hop group called Linaje Originarios (Originary Lineage). Vice Magazine describe them in this way: “the union between hip hop and the indigenous, one of the most forgotten communities, apart and violated in our country, seems to be one of the great achievements of modern music” (Santos, 2016).
In their lyrics they talk about their indigenous past, their ancestors, the environment and peace, as they explain in an interview with El Tiempo (one of the most important newspapers in Colombia). In the same interview, they also explain how they are trying to use hip-hop as a medium to recover and reinforce their traditions by addressing their songs to Embera’s new generations and encouraging them to use their language.
So in order to explain the relationship between pop culture and activism in the Embera Chami case, I will analyze the social production of representation in the music video “Condor Pasa” – meaning “working with the production of indigenous visual media, observing the techniques of camera work and editing, and also the social activities and relations through which videos are made, used and controlled” (Turner 1992, 16) – through the examination of three different concepts: representation, globalization and activism.
REPRESENTATION
To talk about representation we must take into account a discussion well known in anthropological tradition about “the other” and who has the last word to talk about “them”. But what if that division was not as obvious as it may seem? Or if we could affirm that representation is not a static conception but a process in which many elements converge. “Given this anti-essentialist and category-shy vision, a post-colonial analytical lens focuses on the hybridity of the entangled socio-spatial relations that shape mutually formulated identities (e.g., colonizer and colonized)” (Smith 2010, 254). Thus, through the post-colonialist lens, in the indigenous case, the division between western and non-western communities becomes blurry and mutually shaped, in this hybrid intersection in the socio-spatial landscape of the everyday life.
Given this theoretical context, lets observe in song “Condor Pasa” how they represent themselves as part of this hybrid interaction. First, we could detect how they visually address three elements in their music video: nature, traditions and ancestors (Images 1 and 2), as constitutive elements of their indigeneity.
In the next scene of their music video, they open a window to the daily activities of the community and evidence their position as spectators (Image 3). Using the “panela” production as an example, a sugar cane product introduced by Spaniards and commonly associated with “campesinos” and labor in the farms, they show their relation with Colombian rural activities and their contemporary way of living (Images 4).
Finally, they present themselves in that intersection between the past and the present by using their traditional clothing to sing rap in their own language and utilizing two emblematic locations as their stage: the first, in the middle of the woods, employing a montage of another scene showing the sky and the plants to represent their link with nature (Image 5); and the second, in a house with one of their ancestors using a traditional instrument in an attempt to mingle the contemporary and the traditional, giving the impression they were performing at the same time (image 6).
GLOBALIZATION
By analyzing the visual production of the music video we identified above the process of self-representation and the hybrid interaction of elements in their daily life. Now let us position ourselves behind the scene and try to “examine how accessing and utilizing video technologies allows indigenous people to readdress the past, discuss the present, and propose futures” (Smith 2010, 257).
The problem of access is not just a matter of capacity or resources, is a much deeper problem related with knowledge production and who has voice to speak for themselves or for the others. In this context, the use of mass media has become a way to address to a range of different audiences depending on the purpose, and trying to overcome the up-down relationship of knowledge production. Indigenous media more generally indexes a range of negotiations and broader relationships of power and positioning between state-led institutions and categories of identity, and indigenous activists (Wortham 2004, 367).
Globalization has opened spaces for these marginalized groups to encounter and use this self-representation in favor of their claims and gain strength as a group. Not only big organizations like the UN or several NGO’s, but also individual supporters have created spaces to overcome the nation-state relationship with indigenous groups, and have taken their claims to international or national institutions that could help them with their territorial and political problems. It is in this construction of international or non-state interactions that media plays a major role, because it helps these groups to be heard by a wider audience and find supporters outside their borders.
This being said let us analyze the song “Condor Pasa” and how it could be related to this topic. The first and most important element is the song itself, because “Condor Pasa” is originally a Peruvian zarzuela, that now-a-days represents Latin American indigeneity, especially the groups from the Andean mountains. So the selection and usage of the song is a way to relate their work with a bigger regional identity they make up part of.
Despite being a cover song, Linaje Originarios created their own lyrics using their language. Relating this to my personal experience, I have to say that the first time I heard the song I enjoyed it just because of how it sounded, but I couldn’t understand the meaning of their lyrics. This made me search for the translation of their songs and I discovered they created a webpage for Spanish speakers with all the translations, which made me wonder about the new audiences they were trying to reach. By analyzing their intention in their music and audio-visual production we could identify three different audiences: the Inner, the Regional and the Outer audience.
1. INNER AUDIENCE
It is composed by the members of their same ethnic group, which they address to tell them about the importance of the preservation of their language and their traditions.
First Strophe “Condor Pasa”:
“In my mind, in my word, only reflection
I’m singing, saying, muttering,
we have to take care of our culture,
our mother earth and the animals too
and the water of life
that we consume and the ancestral spirit
I have it in my heart.”
2. REGIONAL AUDIENCE
Are the members of other Embera groups and/or Latin American indigenous groups.
Fourth Strophe “Condor Pasa”
“We sing to people of other ethnic groups,
they do not agree with this life,
again I say it, the condor is watching us,
how are we living together or if that is not the case,
I’m going to tell you, thank you,
all the Emberás of Latin America
strong and warriors like the condor.”
3. OUTER AUDIENCE
Supporters or non-indigenous audience who like their music, which then get involved with the group and give them an alternative space to be heard. Because of them Linaje Originarios have translated most of their songs to Spanish.
ACTIVISM
I left this last topic at the end, not because it was less important than the others but because it relates them all. We have seen along the text how all the concepts mingle in the everyday life of indigenous communities shown in their media productions. This has apparently a central and concrete purpose to address the problems and necessities of their people, which, due to different circumstances, have not been heard.
More than media made for or by indigenous people, Indigenous Media is a political posture in the sense that struggles with self-determination and autonomy by renegotiating power positions between institutions (States, NGO’s, etc.), activists, academics or communities, regarding elements such as representation, identity, voice and positioning or point of view, as we have seen so far. With this in mind, we cannot establish Indigenous Media as a rigid concept, but rather a political and active media production in a particular conjuncture, that not only has internal repercussions (within the community) but also external, taking into account it also calls for an indigenous global community for support, in their effort to defend their traditions.
In this context of empowerment and self-representation, it is important to remind that indigenous media has two main audiences: the inner (inside the community) and the outer (outside the community). In the context of the outer audiences, we have to take into account that in order to have a voice it is not enough to possess the mediums to do it, but you need also to be heard. In that sense, it is very important to communicate in a way in which both the sender (indigenous) and the receiver (western society) feel comfortable, and can understand the message.
Popular culture is a specific form of entertainment, which we as western audiences are used to and appreciate in most cases. However, it also involves non-western audiences through the hybrid representation process previously discussed. Therefore, this form of communication could be a good bridge between indigenous media and the global western audience, as observed in the hip-hop music production of “Linaje Originarios”. Nevertheless, it is important to emphasize that this does not mean that indigenous content should be created as an imitation of western entertainment, or based on the same parameters and aiming for the same communication goals. On the contrary, the purpose is that indigenous media or indigenous pop-culture “… had to develop a culturally hybrid approach targeting at least two distinct audiences (native and non-native) that were already highly diverse” (Roth 2007, 21).
In the case of the song “Condor Pasa”, Linaje Originarios utilize a pop-culture medium to make a political statement about the importance and necessity to protect their culture and their land, sending a message of inner empowerment and outer support.
Second Strophe Condor Pasa:
They gave us the conscience and the plants,
they talk with us to healing;
Healing is being given to us and this is what we do with the teacher
Chuma.
Emberá Chamí of the Reservation are singing to you,
we have to take care of our culture and
The Shelter of our ancestors who have already left.
In sum, the popular culture could be a form of what Roth calls a “cultural hybrid approach” of communication, but without losing the goal of empowerment and self-representation. By adapting new technologies or “external” mediums of communication such as “pop culture”, communities discover new ways of self-representation using cultural hybrid interactions within a globalized context, in which they could be heard and be relevant to local and global audiences. This constitutes itself as an activist act that empowers communities to address their own problems and concerns and allows them to have the last word about themselves.
Bibliography
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Ginsburg, Faye. “Indigenous Media: Faustian Contract or Global Village?” Cultural Anthropology6, no. 1 (1991): 92-112. doi:10.1525/can.1991.6.1.02a00040.
Hall, Stuart. Cultural Identity and Diaspora: Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. Lawrence and Wishart, 1990.
“Linaje Originarios- Condor Pasa.” Words in the Bucket. February 24, 2017. Accessed July 13, 2018. https://www.wordsinthebucket.com/linaje-originarios-condor-pasa.
Nanavasques. “Linaje Originarios – CONDOR PASA.” YouTube. January 03, 2016. Accessed July 17, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q68wBc4naQ
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ANNEXED: COMPLETE SONG AND TRANSLATION
El Condor Pasa – Linaje Originarios
In my mind, in my word, only reflection
I’m singing, saying, muttering,
we have to take care of our culture
and our mother earth and the animals also
must take care and the water of life
that we consume and the ancestral spirit
I have it in my heart.
They gave us the conscience and the plants,
they talk with us to heali;
Healing is being given to us and this is what we do with the teacher
Chuma.
Emberá Chamí of the Reservation are singing to you,
we have to take care of our culture and
The Shelter of our ancestors who have already left.
Chorus
Reserve Marcelino Tascón, Reserve Marcelino Tascón
the condor passes, the condor passes
The condor passes, we thank you that gives us strength.
We are showing Indigenous culture and also to you my brothers
and we thank the day and in the night, with the moon and the sun that gives us strength.
My indigenous Colombian people with a lot of alliance and peace
that our mother gives us, she gives us the lessons
So that we live together and also with people of other ethnic groups,
Without missing the condor.
We sing to people of other ethnic groups,
they do not agree with this life,
again I say it, the condor is watching us,
how are we living together or if that is not the case,
I’m going to tell you, thank you,
all the emberás of Latin America
Strong and warriors like the condor passes.
Chorus
Reserve Marcelino Tascón, Reserve Marcelino Tascón
the condor passes, the condor passes
And the one who has conscience, listen to me well
the top condor is flying
healing, its healing you
Emberá Chamí are singing from the reserve
Emberá Chamí are singing from the reserve
The condor is teaching us
That our mother gives us everything, ancestral spirit
and the condor alone is flying over us
Chorus
Reserve Marcelino Tascón, Reserve Marcelino Tascón
the condor passes, the condor passes